Putnam County Considering $50 Re-Inspection Fee

The Putnam County Fiscal Review Committee has recommended a $50 re-inspection fee for the codes department.

County Mayor Randy Porter said the additional fee would address an issue that began during the current building boom.

“An issue has been coming up where contractors have notified the codes department that their construction is ready to be inspected,” Porter said. “Our codes department is driving all the way out there and finding out that it’s not ready.”

Initial inspection fees depend on the cost of the home. Porter said the county would charge $50 for every project that’s not ready for re-inspection.

“We feel like the codes department is wasting a lot of time and gas by driving all the way out in the county to these locations,” Porter said. “Some of these, he’s driving out three or four times before they have it ready for him to schedule. We feel like we need to charge something for that to hopefully get folks attention that they wouldn’t call and tell us it’s ready to be inspected until it actually is.”

Porter said other counties charge a similar fee to help cover gas and maintenance on the vehicles.

“We checked around with some of the other counties and $50 is a typical fee,” Porter said. “Some of them charge a little more. We first thought about $100, but we thought we would start it at $50 to see how that works. If it doesn’t fix it, we’ll be back to you (county commission) to maybe increase it.”

The committee’s recommendation will be considered by the full county commission on Monday, June 24.